hotel which is a nearby parliament hill, also reports shots fired at this rideau center which is a nearby shopping mall. ottawa police have warned residents in the city to stay inside and away from windows. and of course there is a furious manhunt under way to try to find other possible suspects. and there you can see a shot of the war memorial which is nearby parliament hill and you can see -- barely see the police or police tape out front. that is apparent police where all of this gun at approximately 10:00 this morning. let's get some perspective again from al jazerra's ali velshi. on the other side of the break we were talking about the significance of canada taking steps to revoke passports of some 90 people trying to go the middle east to fight with isil. also earlier this week a man allegedly ran down two soldiers with his car and he apparently was killed in that incidents and it was found that he had

aspirations to go syria. can you think of anything else that was sort of the canada orica made vinnie parliament had been discussing this week that might have provoked or migh mige involved or related to any of that? >> no. you know, the -- one of the things that's important to understand when thinking about canada, it has a political flavor much more like northern europe. there is a national iced single pay leg care system across the country, what that means is you don't typically have the popular saying that you see in american politics, parties on the left and right in canada are all centered around the middle of the political spectrum. >> you don't typically has mass protests. you don't have fringe parties

and things like that. this kind of reaction from canadians, it's typical. there are incidents whether it is an organized radicalization or individual rad call saying where really bad things happen. canada is not a heavily armed society, although it is relatively easy to get a rival for hunting purposes, and ottawa is as your earlier reporter said it a wooded area, people in on ottawa really enjoy the outdoors it would not be uncommon in earlier reports should this gunmen had a rife. that's not an uncommon thing, people don't carry handguns in canada. and there is nothing going in the canadian politics at the moment that would be prompt this is sort of half your. there is a municipal election in canada in most canadian cities or at least in ontario on mond monday. again nothing particularly radical going there, the mayor

of ottawa is running for reelection and polls indicate that he will handily win. nothing would suggest if one were looking for reasons you would have to think the only reason to target a member of parliament is canada's stance as it relates to matters going on in the middle east, that would be the only thing i can think of, a think no expert at that. shootings and mass murders but they tend to have been once type of incidents where many years spaced in between, again, no guess from me as to what the motive is, i also will tell you, there seems to be a lot of conflicting reporting going on. and as the reporter who was inside parliament said earlier, in canada it is not as common to be kept informed by the police during an active situation. so we don't know where other shots have been fired the rideau

center seems to have reported they don't have shots fired there. the shoot toe ha at that samarde reported that therchateau said . others said there was. >> if there were shots anywhere in the area, you would likely use the reference point and the with reference point is parliament. the rideau certainty the hotel and things like that. that's why there might be some confusion as to where these -- if there are other gunmen where it might be. >> and it's a good point that you make that this is a big if, there are other gunmen and let's continue with that. suppose there were other gunmen and, that the ottawa police are correct, that they are looking for multiple suspects, given the layout of this part of ottawa. given that police are obviously on the look without for a shooters to say fire shots in

this vicinity and then be able to escape without being notice or blends in to the city or escape in to the woods? >> well, i think there are two ways of looking at this. ottawa is carved out of the woods. you know, there are suburbs all over the place but you can be in the woods quickly. you know, within a 10-minute, 15-minute drive from ottawa. that said it's a government town. there is a probably a greater proportion of police, including the research c m.p. which are the most highly trained in the nation. and military. so if there were a manhunt for somebody with a gun in ottawa, it would not -- i think it would not ultimately be hard to find them. it is not common in a city like ottawa, or any major city really even in the united states, for anybody to be having a rival or shotgun in the city so that would be easy to figure out. number two, like washington or new york, it's a city full of cacameras. so as soon as somebody is able to review the video and i am

sure the rcmp and the canadian military are doing that right now reviewing the videos of the shoot says they'll be table to establish if there was more than one shooter and who they are and what they look like. ape not sure that they will be able to get it out. i think in the heat of the moment we are hearing are hearing conflicting reports that there was a lot of gunfire but because of that there must be multiple shooters but they may well have been guards and rcmp within the center block building. it is not a place used today these sorts of things so panic can ensue very quickly and as you both know the stories that are initially told after once of these incidents are not the case, so what we do not have confirmation that there is more than one shooter. what we do seem to have, is some word that there is more than one shooting location. in fact, a lot of canadian media is reporting three shooting locations. one of them we can confirm as the center block of parliament. which is the main building.

that's where the parliamentary chambers are, the house of commons and then two others. might that be the hotel or mall or some space around there, entirely possible but don't have moments. as your reporter said, it's an organized town, pretty much everybody in downtown ottawa right now would be a government worker or personnel floyd in the service city dealing with the workers like the sharp certainty it's easy to control and shot down. it's not a hard to control city. what on heard right now is most the downtown ottawa is cordoned off or entirely silent at the moment. again, whoever it is, if there is somebody running around, but we still don't have confirmation that there is anybody who has not been dealt with. we know that one gunman has been shot and killed. >> ali, one quick question, a simple one i spokes the video that we ran a minute and a half

ago showed they looked like special for buzz presumably members of rcmp, or of the spat teams or whatnot and they seem to be looking very high, they remember pointing their guns very high and standing in front of a building that had i believing a number 59 on it and it said post office. i assume this is perhaps right t across from the main parliament building, is it very tall, is that a concern that they may have that a gunman could get up there and then have almost like a sniper ability to fire down on people? >> yes. and it is very tall, that's the one thing interesting about parliament it's not slow, it's narrower than the u.s. congress, not nearly as wide and it is tall. and in fact, you heard that whoever it was, whatever police were searching the center block of parliament, were taking battering rams to go in to offices and i a assuming they are using battering rams to make

sure somebody didn't get in an office and establish themselves in parliament. the center block of parliament is set quite far back from any major road because there is a big space in front. a billing courtyard. three buildings all sorpbd surrd this i go about, big grassy area that i described as being like the mall. it's not as big, but you would have to be quite a shot to be in a window in parliament and hit anything across the road. you are talking about a distance that might approach half a mile. how have if there is a gunman in there we want to find out. all mechanics of parliament were told to be on lock down. i was communicating with a couple of them who told me they were in their offices and were on lock down. but i think the issue i was was the first shooting a diversion did somebody do something so somebody else could get in to parliament and be armed inside parliament. i will tell you can't just walk in to parliament. so once the dust set examples we get the news on this.

it's not really possible that i gunman with a rifle would have been able onto open a door and get in without a shootout. it's just mott possible. there are metal di detectors and security at every door. the doors that the members of parliament use and journalists use are different from the doors that the public use. they don't put journalists and politicians through the metal did he particular tours in the same way, there are probably some weaknesses in there, but that's what they are checking for. it's a very big building. >> ali velshi the host of "real money," also a native canada and familiar with that part of ottawa and spent a lot of time there. thank you very much, ali. we want to get tout white house where the obama administration says it's following the developments in ottawa and sharing whatever information or intelligent that they may have and back and forth with the government of canada. our senior washington correspondent mike have care joined us live from the north

lawn of the white house, what was officially said at the briefing. >> a somber spokesman took the podium a few minutes action both here at the white house and at the state deem. and line from the administration is this, details are sketchy right now. they of course express sol dare if i with canada the partnership that these two countries have historically shared, they refuse to comments or say they don't have any details when the inevitable question of was this terror or not was posed to them, president obama, for his part, was briefed by him home stand security and counter terrorism adviser from the west wing lisa monaco. he has offered president obama to be in contact with stephen partneharper and they have offed assistance and to keep abreast of the situation. inevitably the question arises here in washington has this changed the threat level? are government buildings here experiencing any change in their security posture? the white house says they are unaway of that.

but we know from state department spokes woman marie that the american embassy, as you might pictures in ottawa, is on lock down at this moment, david. >> mike, there is always the concern as you know well, that the administration and national security officials have that an events overseas might be coordinated with he haven't in washington. you mentioned that they don't have any evidence that would cause them to trigger raising the sort of security threshold. but out of an abundance of caution i would assume the f r.b.i. and other agencies have sent out noticed to their field offices reminding them to be on the look out for something similar? >> reporter: we don't have that explicit information, david, but i think the implication from what we have heard from the spokesman is very clear. obviously this being a close partner both geographic i cannily, politically, culturally, that the american security authorities, homeland security officials are looking at the situation closely and running all the traps that they

need to run even at the situation continues to unfold. david, washington no stranger to this type of situation. if you recall back in july, of 1998, i believe it was, a deranged gunman burst in to the capital and killed two police officers there and engaged in a shootout. that was really the moment that changed the perception after that, of course, september 11th, but those two events in term of security around the capital in particular, really changed the perception, really changed the feel really, changed the protocols and procedures around the capital and washington at large. david. >> al jazerra's mike viqueira at the white house, thank you very much. for everybody who is just joining us, the police in ottawa have not given any clarification about the reporting about multiple suspects. already two confirmed shooting locations, one the war memorial just outside the parliament building and a shoot that go took place 30 to 40 shots fired inside the canadian parliament and that is apparently where the sergeant of arms in the

parliament was able to shoot and kill a suspect who had stolen a car and essentially driven there and then presumably broke in or fired his way in there still multiple reports out there on additional shooting location but those reports have been denied now by the rideau center which is a nearby shoppinger and also by the famous hotel nearby on parliament him. but police there are and looking. that is the atmosphere marks rhea has been watching it all play out on social media. what do you see lately that may add to the reporting? >> went to show you the prime minister getting briefed as to what has been happening: his press person has tweeted this out. prime minister harp getting briefed on the shooting by commissioner paulson. there you can theme both talking. and also earlier on graham richardson from ctv sent out

this picture. this is inside the caucus room, the shoot are shot inside the caucus room after the shooting. you can see that the doors right here are completely blocked with chairs and benches. so the they are barricaded inside that caucus room. also jerry is a member of parliament and he has been tweeting out. he's been saying they have been on lock down, he's on the fifth floor. he says on the fifth floor of center block earlier he wrote: he said at 95:00 a.m. i was in a meeting on the fifth floor of certainly block in the leader's office when i heard shots fired. rcmp response was immediate. he also told people stay in office everyone lock doors stay low, chase ensuing outside the offices. and he's been sending out pictures of the response teams outside of the office where he's on lock down. also this image earlier. you had shown video of this. the black sedan with the door open right now below me. maybe what we are hearing say stolen car. the assailant used and also rcmp

earlier told citizens they write are advise today stay off roof tops and away from windows in the downtown core, avoid the downtown area. david. >> all right, maria watching things on social media went to bring you an update that the royal canadian mounted police are scheduled to have a briefing and there you can seat podium at 2:00, about 15 minutes, they feel they have enough information to provide some of that to the public an update the citizens of ottawa and, in fact, around the world watching this exactly what they know and what they don't know. we will be bringing that to you live when it happens. but to give you a sense about the atmosphere where parliament apparently is still on lock do down. and where there was some intriguing developments in terms of canada trying to revoke passports of people want to go join isil this week, we spoke to leanne good man, she is a reporter with canadian press from her offices on parliament hill a short time ago. >> we are not seeing much, the streets are deserted, they have

cleared everything out. and people are locked in their offices, they are literally not just locked in the building but locked in the office and we have been warned not to look on the windows or stand by windows, so there is definitely still people at large or so they seem to think, we are not getting much information from the police about what is going on. we are all in a bit in the dark, we are hearing more from par la men tear against to be honest about what they are told in their briefings and that's where we are get a lot of our information. we did have a reporter talk to a man who witnessed the shooting. he tagged you toot soldier and put his arms up in sort of triumph and ran towards the parliament buildings. this is a scene that most pa quaid ends are not used to seeing in this down.

>> your colleague that witnessed this did he say it was one shooting that raced his arms because there are conflicting reports about multiple shooters and questions about possible coordination. >> the reporter didn't witness it he talked to somebody that witnessed it fridays his office nearby, watch the whole thing unfold. at that points it was just one guy, he took off and ran up the street towards parliament hill and we know somebody showed up at parliament hill and started shooting up parliament hill, dozens of shots were fired. m.p.s are tweeting out their thanks to kevin vickers for having saved their lives, we are hearing there might have been a third shooting. we don't know where that was. at first we were hearing it was the rideau center which was the shopping center nearby, bub the rideau certainty said it didn't happen there, we are trying it figure out where the third shooting was, there are also three people in the hogs it sounds like one of them might

have died. we don't know which one hospit hospital. there are congress flicking reports of whether the soldier died. up like the u.s. and i worked there for six years in dc. we don't get a lot information when these things happen the police aren't good at keeping us up-to-date. >> are they good at keeping members of parliament up to day our sources saying that the soldier was killed is from a member of parliament, is that trust worths any. >> yes, it sounds like the parliamentarians are getting briefings, their office and so they are getting some pretty good information that we are not getting from the cops right now. >> any guidance as to how long they expect. give us some idea how big is the building how long will it take for police to go through there office by office and clear the scene and let all of you out?

>> i am not in the certainty block, we are across the street. you know, it's a big, huge building, but i would imagine they have probably gone through it by now. i know they are taking battering rams and opening some locked doors and not finding people it sounds like things are pretty secure there. but ottawa, you know, we in the milled of a bit of a forest here and there is a lot of places where just beyond the parliament buildings where somebody could have ran down and gotten in to wooded areas. so, you know, it's not clear where the other shooters are. we are not seeing anything on social media that suggests they are shooting up any other public buildings, but obviously for safety reasons severing on lock down finally, leanne is there anything in particular that parliament has been discussing or debate that go might have been a target or might have been controversial for one group or another? >> well, certainly our efforts to join the isil, you know, the campaign against isil. we have just on monday we had a radical eyesed french canadian

guy doll, you know, quill a canadian soldier, waited in his car until he saw two soldiers and then ran them down, killed one of them. and then the police killed him. and he was radicalized, he tried to go to syria via turkey to join the isil efforts, so certainly we have also revoked 90 passports of canadian citizens that want to go overseas and fight for isil, certainly there is a lot going on and we are -- we have been warned that we could be a target. if this is in fact connected to what happened on monday, and if it is connected to isil, well, here we are. we have been warned it it was going to happen and it looks like it's happening. >> you are looking at a live picture from ottawa where the royal canadian mounted police are expected to have a briefing for the media at 2:00, in about 10 minutes to provide the information that they have and, again, ottawa police still have downtown on lock down. they say they are still looking for an additional suspect or suspects.

there was one suspects who was reportedly shot and killed if the phrarplt rebuilding, the building is on lock down, schools are on lock down, they are going door by door looking for additional gunmen in addition they are checking all the cars leaching ottawa going to quebec as part of this search to try to find additional gunmen that may have been involved. >> reporter: join us by phone is al jazerra national security contributor j.j. green, we heard it at the end from leanne about the couple of things that the canadian parliament has been dork the canadian government has been revoking passports of some 90 canadians who apparently wanted to go to the middle east to join isil. she mentioned an incident earlier in the week that came in montreal in which hey muslim convert described as a radical jihadist ran over two soldiers in a still mall kill one of this much. prime minister harper has been

critical of the isil and other groups has been considering new anti-terrorism ledge veils, it's your sense that all of this is connected? >> yes, in some way it is. whether it's reaches the tactical steps taken by a connected terror organization or whether it's copycat or whether it's sympathizers there is some connection, no doubt the attack on monday was very public. it was broadcast armed the world. there have been stories all about it. a lot of social media about it. and we know very well that young people and older people are very pluged in no what's going on with isil. and we know about the capability of terror organization to his radicalize people very quickly. so regardless of what this turns out to be it, did happen within two days of the other attack and so authorities will be pouring over details and information trying to figure out whether or not there was some connection on

a real sense from a terroristic point of view. but they now know that regardless of whether it is or not, they know that canada has come under a significant amount of pressure. from what pa peer to be tara or sift activities after appearing to be except if by al qaeda for many years as it ran roughshod over the rest of the world in some cases launching terror attacks. canada was never attacked but in this case they have been whether it's domestic or international terrorism or not twice within a week. >> given your understanding about canada's anti terrorism forces, and we know police are searching cars leaving ottawa. and a man up in the downtown and schools are on lock down, does ottawa a have the sufficient resource to his do this operation in a very fluid environment like this one? without a doubt. they have the rcmp they have very serious and very capable

intelligence and military capabilities. they know what they are doing, they have had plenty of time to practice and prepare without being engaging in the heat of battle. they know what they are doing and are capable of doing this. the problem with terrorism is that its unpredictability the timing of agents, what type of acts take place, who might be engaged and, again, when it comes to situations where you have potential lone wolf attacks, you have people who are unpredictable because you can't get inside their heads and really get the same kind of sense that you might get from a cell, which might communicate overtly and use some type of communications devices which can be tapped and listened to. but with one people or a couple of people the plan is just in

their heads of so they are going to have the same difficulty dealing with this. as anybody else does dealing with lone wolf or self cell a stacks. >> as far as u.s. count or terrorism officials are concerned, would there be a sense of relief, maybe that's not the right word but four hours later after the shooting in ottawa, that there has not been any reports of random shots like this at any government building in the united states. you would at least rule out the possibility that is some sort of coordinate ahead tack in multiple capitals and just move towards the possibility that is it was just an operation in just ottawa. >> they are not leaching unstone any attorneyed. -- leaving any stone upturns. the door to the embassy to

canada here in washington, d.c. is locked. they are take hard look at what's going okay the white house correspond erred mike viqueira, as he said times sag. the u.s. has been in this vein since 9/11, so it operates at a very high level after security. each time something like that happens they have to take it as a stand loan vent and looking very carefully at what they need do. at this point there have not been in the broad pronouncements of posture change as far as security goes. >> thank you very much. again we are take quake break, bring you the live news conference from the royal canadians mounted police which we expects to begin in just a couple of minutes, as we go to break, ottawa remains on lock down, the police are looking for additional gunmen and the shootings earlier today. schools are on lock down, people have been urged to stay in their homes, national hockey league has mentioned they are canceling, post phoning

tonight's game between the maple leafs and ottawa senators, a lot of anxiety in ottawa at this hour, we'll have the latest on the other side of this break you are watching al jazerra america.

welcome back to al jazerra america i am david shuster in new york. ottawa remains under lock down at this hour, some four hours after shots first range out at the rang out at the war them yell or where a gunman opened fired on a soldier standing guard, the gunman stole a vehicle and drove it up to the parliament building and shot his way in there, there were reports of 30 or 40 shots exchangeed with security there. reports that the gunman has been killed, also reports that the soldier that was standing guard has been pronounced d